By alley - Sep 15, 2015, 12:38 PM ET

IMSA: Lone Star Le Mans preview

Two to go. COTA and then Petit Le Mans.

That is where the TUDOR series finds itself as we enter into the much anticipated COTA weekend. This technically is the fourth appearance at COTA for what is now the TUDOR series as it raced here last season in the inaugural season of the uniofied series, and before that both Grand-Am and the ALMS raced here in 2013.

This highly sanitized track in Texas is by far the most “European” of the tracks in North America and as such makes it a natural for not just the IMSA-sanctioned series but also the FIA/WEC series, which makes its annual and so far solitary appearance in North America. Whether the WEC returns to COTA into the future has been subject of many rumors throughout this year – time will tell, but the expectation is that COTA will again be on the 2016 WEC calendar.

WEC: Lone Star Le Mans prototype preview
WEC: Lone Star Le Mans GTE preview

With both the TUDOR race (2 hours and 40 minutes long) and the WEC race (6 hours long) taking place on Saturday, the remaining IMSA support series will race earlier – these being the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, the Porsche GT3 Cup USA and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo races. Wednesday will see these support series take over the track, while official practices for both TUDOR and WEC will commence on Thursday.

Last year, the race weekend conditions played into the hands of the Ganassi boys (BELOW) as a combination of pace strategy and fuel economy helped them hold off the hard-charging OAK entered Ligier and the remainder of the 51 cars that started the race.

GTLM was dominated by Porsche for most of the race, but a broken rear axle in the No. 911 allowed the Vipers to sweep the top of the podium, with Wittmer/Bomarito in car #93. Viper is not back to defend the race win in the GTLM class, as the program was brought to a conclusion almost immediately after the next and final race of the season – Petit Le Mans.

In PC, 8-Star, featuring Sean Rayhall and Luis Diaz, won the battle at COTA, but it was a second-place finish for Colin Braun and Jon Bennett that wrapped up the season championship for CORE. GTD was a win for Viper, too, with Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating winning in a tight battle over the Magnus Porsche and the Tuner BMW.

This season sees

a reduced entry

, with 40 cars on the initial entry, but the likelihood of that number reducing even further once some of the expected cars become no-shows, some due to the lack of funded TBAs willing to step up.

Much of the focus at COTA will be on the various points chases. In the Prototype class, the top positions are very tight, with Spirit of Daytona (Westbrook/Valiante) leading by a single point over Action Express (Barbosa/Fittipaldi) and their Mustang-sponsored Corvette with the second Action Express-run Corvette (Curran/Cameron) another point back.

While the Joey Hand/Scott Pruett pair have not won a race yet this season, they are still marginally in the points chase, 16 points back, but will need some tremendous help. With the points payout set up the way it is, tight battles are pretty much guaranteed, but as only three points separate a win from second, and two points from second to third, making up ground is very difficult indeed. They’ll need to win here and have disaster strike the three teams in front of them to really get into the chase.

One car that could stir things up though is the Michael Shank-entered HPD Ligier. Negri and Pew, given a chance could shine here, but at this point it is very difficult to get a feel for how the performance balance is set up between the P2 cars and the DPs. This will be an emotional race for the team though, which will be racing in a

tribute livery to their fallen teammate Justin Wilson

Porsche has had a tremendous comeback in the GTLM points chase, and entering the race at COTA, Patrick Pilet holds a five-point lead over Magnussen/Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette, with the Auberlen/Werner BMW pairing another three points back. In the last few races, the balance was such that Porsche appeared to have a slight edge performance wise over the Risi Ferrari, with the Corvettes and the BMWs significantly back, but pretty well balanced between them. Heading into the last two races, Porsche has been handed a 20 kg (44 lb) adjustment, which should balance them back to the rest of the pack. How far back remains to be seen.

As has become typical in this class over the last few seasons, the results can almost be predicted based upon the latest round of adjustments. While the class is still one of the most intriguing in the world, the constant regulation changes have taken a bit of the luster away from what has been an ultra-competitive category.

In the manufacturer chase, Porsche leads BMW by eight points.

(Next page: LMPC & GTD)

LMPC is again seeing CORE lead the points chase, as it attempts to keep its championship-winning streak going. Currently Braun and Bennett lead the drivers chase by five points over Mike Guasch and Tom Kimber Smith in the PR1-Mathiasen entry, with Chris Cumming and Bruno Junqueira another 6 points back for RSR.

If CORE manages to win the championship this season, it would be the second consecutive for the driver pairing, but would be the fifth consecutive team championship.

Notable in PC is that Matt McMurry (LEFT) will celebrate his 100th race. All before becoming 18. Matt will be sharing the JDC entry with Mikhail Goikhberg.

By winning at VIR, Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler made themselves GTD championship contenders for Scuderia Corsa. Their win narrowed the gap to the points leader Christina Nielsen to six points. Having Kuno Wittmer join the drivers force at TRG has been a big boost for the team. The Aston Martin may look a bit odd and tippy in the corners but there is no arguing about the results.

Third in points is the Paul Miller Audi pair of Christopher Haase and Dion von Moltke. They had a disappointing result at VIR, which left them eight points out of the lead.

Because Aston Martin is not a registered marque, it does not count towards the manufacturers championship. That chase is now led by Ferrari, with Audi three points back and Porsche a total of eight points out.

This race will see an addition to the Audi entrants, as the Flying Lizards will be returning to the series, with Mike Vess and Jason Hart sharing the driving duties.

Like in GTLM, the change in regulations only applies to one car. At VIR, the Viper was noticeably slow in a straight line, so they get a bit of a trade-off – in exchange for a 3mm larger (less restrictive) restrictor, they will be saddled with an additional 15 KG making them the heaviest car in the class by a long shot.

Unlike last year, which saw rain play into both the IMSA and WEC races, as of the moment there is not much of a chance of rain. But because of expected temperature in the mid-90’s with high humidity, weather will likely have an influence on the race. Conditions like this could make it a long event for all involved.

Originally on DailySportsCar.com